The Impact of Holiday Cracker Jokes Influence Our Minds?

"How much did Santa's sled cost? Zero, it was on the house."

This quip is met by groans that resonate through a warehouse in the capital.

We're at a joke-testing session with a firm that produces products for social events. Its catalogue includes Christmas crackers.

The firm's owner smiles, almost apologetically at the joke. But the pun has made the cut and will appear in future crackers.

"The success is gauged by the joke by the number of groans and the loudness of the groans at the table," the founder says.

The key to a good holiday cracker pun is not the identical as a stand-up gag per se. It is entirely about the context - in this instance, the shared laughter of the holiday dinner table with grandparents, children and possibly friends.

"You want the gag to be a thing that unites the eight-year-old in harmony with the grandparent," she states.

The Science Of Shared Laughter

Coming together to experience communal amusement is not only nothing new, scientists say, it is likely to be older than humanity.

"Therefore when you are laughing with people at the holiday table you are engaging in what's very likely a really ancient mammalian play sound," says a professor.

Communal amusement, she explains, aids in forge and strengthen social bonds between people.

Researchers have found that a absence of these interactions can significantly damage mental and physical well-being.

"The people you converse with, and laugh with, it leads to increased levels of 'happy chemical' release," she continues.

Endorphins are the brain's "feel-good compounds" and are produced both to alleviate tension and discomfort and in response to pleasurable activities, such as laughing with loved ones over a truly terrible festive cracker gag.

"You're not just chuckling at a foolish pun with a Christmas cracker," the expert says. "You are actually performing a lot of the truly vital work of building, preserving the connections you have with those you care about."

What Happens Inside the Brain?

But what is actually taking place within the mind when we listen to a joke?

An awful lot happens in response to comedy, it transpires.

Using brain scanning technology, a type of brain scanner which indicates which parts of the brain are more active, researchers have been able to map the regions that get more blood.

Testing involves scanning the minds of healthy subjects and then exposing them to a database of funny words, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or pre-recorded laughter.

"During the study we got a really fascinating pattern of neural activity," notes the neuroscientist.

A gag stimulates not just the parts of the brain in charge of auditory processing and understanding language, but also neural areas associated with both preparation and initiating motion and those involved in sight and memory.

Put these elements together, and people listening to a pun have a sophisticated series of brain responses that underpin the amusement we experience.

The Infectious Power of Chuckles

Researchers discovered that when a humorous word is combined with chuckles there is a greater reaction in the brain than the same word when accompanied by a non-emotional sound.

"This was in areas of the mind that you would employ to contort your expression into a smile or a chuckle," she says.

It indicates we are not just responding to funny jokes, they are reacting to the laughter that follows them.

Laughter, according to the expert, can be contagious.

So what does this mean for the chuckles heard at a Christmas table?

"People laugh more when you know others," she says, "and you laugh more when you like them or care for them."

When it comes to festive cracker jokes, she says, the positive factor is more probable to be triggered not by the joke itself, but from the response to it.

"The laughter is key. The joke is the dreadful Christmas cracker pun, and it's just a reason to laugh together."

The Quest for the Ideal Festive Pun

Is it possible to find the perfect gag?

Likely not, but that has not prevented researchers from trying to.

In 2001, a professor established a scientific search for the world's funniest gag.

More than 40,000 jokes later, with ratings provided by hundreds of thousands of participants globally, he has a clearer idea than many as to what succeeds and what fails.

The perfect festive cracker pun must be brief, he explains.

"But they also be poor jokes, jokes that cause us to groan," he adds.

The increasingly "terrible" the joke, he says the better.

"The reason is that if no-one finds it funny – it's the gag's shortcoming, not your own.

"What's interesting about the holiday cracker jokes is that none of us considers them humorous.

"It creates a common moment at the gathering and I think it's wonderful."